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President HR2510 false swr readings

Tbone725

New Member
Mar 29, 2019
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Ive got my first HR2510 and its doing some really weird stuff with my external SWR meter. I went in circles driving my self nuts just to bring my SWRs down to 1.8, and I wanted it much lower. So i changed coax, antennas, bonded the door to my cab, grounding my bracket, even ran new power wires to my battery and still had no success. So I hooked up my old trusty president p300 that I was previously using, and sure enough my swr dropped back down to 1.2 like it was. To make sure I wasn't loosing my mind I tried a cobra 29, sure enough I got a 1.2 reading. I hook the hr2510 back up and right back to a 1.8 swr. I got to reading some threads and found that some glue around a final transistor can cause this, but that's way past my knowledge. My CB tech that I bought the radio from is out till Monday and I'd really like to use my radio, just don't know if its safe to do so. It performs exceptional on side band and AM and I absolutely love it. So in short is OK to use this radio till my tech gets back in on Monday? And a side question. I'm in a 2020 truck and occasionally will be in a older 1979 truck that has a bit of noise on the inside. What mic would y'all recommend for me? I'm certain I will need a power mic, but also need some noise canceling as well. Ive got a ec2018 that I can have wired for it, or can maybe go get a road devil. Thanks for the advise in advance!
 

The antenna is tuned to the vehicle not the radio. Once you set up an antenna with a nice low SWR you can switch from radio to radio with no problem. There might be something in the 2510 that needs realigned. The only time you would have to re-set the SWR on an antenna is if you moved the antenna to a different location on the vehicle.
 
The antenna is tuned to the vehicle not the radio. Once you set up an antenna with a nice low SWR you can switch from radio to radio with no problem. There might be something in the 2510 that needs realigned. The only time you would have to re-set the SWR on an antenna is if you moved the antenna to a different location on the vehicle.


That's what I've always thought. This freak situation made me nuts. I will get the radio back to my tech so he can make it right. He is good people, I'd expect no less.
 
I don't even bother with any SWR below 2:1. I certainly wouldn't be wasting time other than a quick tweak of the whip trying to get 1.8:1 lower.

As for bonding the door to the body, you're misunderstanding what you want to achieve. It is HORIZONTAL(ish) metal that counts for a RF ground. You're trying to make RF current flow over a much more efficient conductive ground than the earth below the vehicle.
 
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Are you using a external SWR meter or the meter that is in the radio. The radios meeter will probabily not be as accurate as a external meter.
 
Are you using a external SWR meter or the meter that is in the radio. The radios meeter will probabily not be as accurate as a external meter.

Im using a external SWR meter. Its nothing fancy but it's always done the job. Its a workman hp201s. This is deffinetly a trip.
 
The 2510 would benefit from the glue removal inside and also a complete replacement of the all the electrolytic capacitors. These radios are getting to the vintage state.

I would say the 2510 puts out more power on AM as to compared to the little P300. So... more power out =more power reflected back to the radio. Some tuning of the radio may be needed as it was originally tuned for the 10 meter band. (28.000 mhz and above)

Need info on what type of material is the cab and doors of the new and old trucks.... Fiberglass or composite trucks have more problems when tuning antenna systems. I have a family friend with 3 Sterling trucks that have fiberglass doors and the factory mounts have terrible SWRs. Going to move to Tram magnetic mounts in the center of the steel cab with 3ft Wilson silver loads that can be tuned.

We went from SWRs in the 5 to 8 zone down to 1.5 to 1.8. Getting a bigger ground plane below the antenna sure helps!!! LOL
 
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The 2510 would benefit from the glue removal inside and also a complete replacement of the all the electrolytic capacitors. These radios are getting to the vintage state.

I would say the 2510 puts out more power on AM as to compared to the little P300. So... more power out =more power reflected back to the radio. Some tuning of the radio may be needed as it was originally tuned for the 10 meter band. (28.000 mhz and above)

Need info on what type of material is the cab and doors of the new and old trucks.... Fiberglass or composite trucks have more problems when tuning antenna systems. I have a family friend with 3 Sterling trucks that have fiberglass doors and the factory mounts have terrible SWRs. Going to move to Tram magnetic mounts in the center of the steel cab with 3ft Wilson silver loads that can be tuned.

We went from SWRs in the 5 to 8 zone down to 1.5 to 1.8. Getting a bigger ground plane below the antenna sure helps!!! LOL

The doors are metal and the top part of the cab is fiberglass while the bottom part of the cab is metal as well. Its on a 2020 freightliner coronado condo. Ive ran my own coax and mirror mounts. I bypassed all the factory crap. I attached a picture of the truck. It will be much like the sterling's.
 

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The 2510 has a history of the final transistor oscillating, putting out extra frequencies in addition to the channel you're on.

The antenna is not tuned for those frequencies. The SWR meter says the SWR is high at those frequencies. The meter can't tell them apart, and just reads all the reflected power lumped together.

I would first tighten all the ground screws inside the radio on all the printed circuit boards. Might help, might not. Good chance you'll find at least one that's not tightened.

Cheap to try.

73
 
The doors are metal and the top part of the cab is fiberglass while the bottom part of the cab is metal as well. Its on a 2020 freightliner coronado condo. Ive ran my own coax and mirror mounts. I bypassed all the factory crap. I attached a picture of the truck. It will be much like the sterling's.
Nice large car Tbone. Hope you get this squared away.
 
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After you do what Nomad has recommended. Run flat braid to the frame from your cab to frame rails. Ground radio and whatever else you have to that. Short as possible. For a Mic 636L or SRA 198. Maybe someone else can help with a NC power mic.
 
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I was told the other day my 636L sounded better than my Old Turner +2 ! I must have a bad battery in my +2 , going to check it today ! I must say the 636 never impressed me except for that long mic wire mine has . Astatic mic is awesome for 1 reason in my mind ... 9v Battery instead of me stacking watch batteries & using shrink wrap to make the ones for my + 2 . jmo
 

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